The Elephant in the Room
by flirting-with-your-timelord
Summary: Chloe/Beca oneshot: It's Valentines Day, will Beca find the courage to ask Chloe out on a date?


**The Elephant in the Room**

Beca Mitchell decided early on in her life that she hated Valentine's Day. She was never the most romantic person, but the notion of pink fluffy hearts and stupid cards certainly was a punch in the face for her single self. She hadn't really thought about dating at Barden, with her work and a cappella training, she certainly didn't have the time. She remembered the hurt look in Jesse's eyes as she turned him down at Regionals, and she was sure he was about somewhere moping around.

Sure, she liked the guy, but he seemed way too clingy and his obsession with movies definitely left a sour taste in her mouth. She glanced at the dwindling bass of her latest set, the blue bars flickering as beats passed through her mind, working out which one to include next. Her mouse hovered over the un-sorted track in her Documents, the word _Chloe _glaring out at her, almost teasing her, if it had a mind.

_Shit, Mitchell. Pull yourself together. _Her cursor moved swiftly to the right folder, clicking deftly on David Guetta's new track, the unfamiliar beat filling her ears. Her lingering thoughts quickly left her, instead letting the music take over her. It was only her, the headphones, and the music.

If only she could forget everything.

She let herself get immersed, the beat becoming familiar to her, as she rose it for the climax of the song. She felt the rocky rhythm of All Time Low fade out, instead being replaced by a song she knew so well.

_You shoot me down,  
but I won't fall,  
I am titanium _

She threw her headphones off, wincing slightly at the crash they made against her laptop. She'd forgotten she'd put the track in there, the lyrics playing over and over in her mind. Images flashed before her; the incident in the showers, the bright smile as she walked on stage for her audition, the hot breath on her face at the Initiation Night.

Chloe Beale stood outside of dorm 155, arms full of song lyrics. Why the hell was she going to Beca? Out of all the people in the Bella's, she should be going to Aubrey. But her obsession with tradition and upholding the Bella's reputation was all too much for Chloe now. She had to go over this with the one person she knew would help, who could turn all these tracks into three beautifully mixed songs.

Heavy thumps resonated around the room as Beca didn't break eye contact from the laptop, her eyes once again resting on the _Chloe _track maximised, sitting innocently in the corner. She could hear the rhythm of Titanium coming out of her headphones, still discarded. Her ears would fail by the time she was 30, but she really didn't care. There was no point listening to music if it wasn't loud. Her hand closed around the cold metal of her headphones, feeling them vibrate slightly from the music. The leather comfortably encased her ears, as her eyes zoned in on the moving beats.

Although she'd heard the knock, she chose to ignore it, instead engrossing herself in the word Chloe. She really was becoming too much of romantic, even if it was Valentine's Day. She certainly wasn't prepared for the familiar clicking of heels invading her hearing, or the braceleted hand yanking off the headphones surrounding her ears.

"Shit! Chloe!" Beca jumped, darting her mouse to minimise the track, hoping the red head had not seen the title. She felt her face redden as the glaring white desktop background contrasted the black gloss background of her music software.

"What ya doing?" The bubbly girl lounged over the female below her, resting her arms on the girls shoulders before coming down to look at her screen.

"Just some mixing. Something that could be for the Bella's, if Aubrey didn't have such a humongous stick shoved up her-"

The redhead cut Beca off, her high pitched voice contrasting the husky sounds of Beca, "Is that what they're calling it nowadays?"

Beca reddened as the perfectly shaped eyebrow rose, painfully aware of the arms resting lightly on her shoulders, the hot breath periodically gracing her cheek.

"Oh, you can talk, with your lady-jam," Beca scoffed smiling brightly as the Bella didn't react to the flirting.

Chloe pulled a chair up next to the brunette, prising the mouse from her clenched fingers and clicking gracefully on the track. Beca silently thanked a higher being that the redhead had picked the track she'd been working on before she got distracted with a certain someone.

"You know, that song really builds," Chloe winked, grabbing Beca's headphones as she pushed them over her red hair.

Beca tried not to react as she watched Chloe slip them on, her heart fluttering at the girl before her. The headphones almost made her look dorky, the black set clearly too big for her petite face. They looked big on Beca too, but they kind of suited her alternative style.

She heard the click of the mouse as she clicked play, watching Chloe's eyes sparkle as the music surrounded the room. The loud bass gently vibrated the desk, the shout of Kimy Jin coming from her room.

Beca pressed the jack back into the socket, the room going quiet again. She smiled at Chloe, she really could be a klutz sometimes, but it went with her lovable nature.

The song slowly ended, teeth shining as Chloe smiled brightly, "that was really good, you know," shoulders bumping as she affectionately pushed her.

"I'd hope so. I just spent three hours on it…" Beca felt her eyes start to hurt; even after all the time she'd spent mixing, she couldn't spend that much time on the computer.

"Would you like a break?" Chloe pushed the stack of paper into Beca's arms, setting the headphones down as she move to Beca's bed, thumping gracefully onto the quilt.

"What are these?" Beca's eyes scanned the music, mixing in decades and in style. She noted Titanium flicked past as her hands shifted through the paper.

"New song selections. They're the ones 'Brey actually let me pick. I had double that amount."

"There must be at least 50 songs here…" Beca's eyes glanced over a Queen song, her mind drifting to how well it would fit with Paramore's new song. She'd been leaning into the rock genre, instead of her usual RnB. She had to find her style if she wanted to get anywhere in the business.

"We have to be the best. And Aubrey is slowly becoming more open to the idea of actually including _recent _songs. She's still not happy though," Chloe picked out a few songs, casually slipping Titanium into the pile, "these are the ones I want to do."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I want you to mix, of course. It's the only way we can get above the Trebles, and they dominated before you came along."

"You want me to mix songs for the Bella's? You're really turning into an alt-chick, aren't you?" The brunette smiled, casually imagining Chloe with an 'ear monstrosity' as Aubrey so eloquently put it.

"It's your fault. I spend too much time with you," Chloe smiled, handing the headphones to the brunette as she spread out the 4 songs she'd picked.

"You'd look seriously hot with an ear stretcher," Beca froze, not realising the thought running through her head had just come out in words - Actual words.

_Shit_

Sure, Beca definitely enjoyed Chloe's company. She was great fun, and was the first girly friend she actually had. Throughout school, she'd been either a loner or hung out with the boys. She'd been blatantly aware of her sexuality from the start of high-school, but music had come first, and that meant forgoing any relationships, regardless of the gender. Her thoughts cast over to the mixing programme before her. She knew this was what she wanted to do, but she realised the school work had increasingly taking up more of her time, and along with the Bella's, she was running out of time to work with music.

"I've always liked yours, but I think Aubrey would highly disapprove," Chloe watched Beca load up the music, the bright blue bars beating up with the bass.

Beca was pleased that the redhead had decided to skirt over her comment, yet there was still a large elephant in the room, and it kept on rearing it's ugly head as the mixing went on. They dabbled in light conversation, with Chloe's eyes transfixed on the brunette's hand gripping the mouse, effortlessly working the programme.

"You know, I'm going to be here for a while, you can go if you want to," Beca glanced at the clock on her computer screen, noticing Chloe had been round for two hours already. She was pretty sure the redhead had mentioned the load of English work she had to do….

"I might pop off for a bit, and check back in with you later. Professor Song sent a really evil Practical Criticism of Robert Frost. It's going to be a bitch to write." The redhead's heels clicked towards the door, waving slightly at the shorter girl, typical headphones around her neck.

The door nearly shut when Beca shouted out across the room, the words tumbling from her lips.

"Chloe!" The brunette stood, sharply, thankful that her headphone lead was long enough.

"What's aca-up?" The chirpy voice sounded as red hair swung round the door.

"Doyouwanttogoonadatewithmeto night?" Beca mumbled, noticing the quizzical expression on the redheads face.

"You've got to speak up, Beca. We can't have that while performing."

"Do you- do you want to go on a date with me? Tonight?" Beca's voice wavered slightly as she coughed. The words toppled out of her mouth, some how forming into a coherent sentence.

"I'd love to."


End file.
